Cincinnati-based indie singer/songwriter, Benjamin James Howard, has quite the interesting story. With a long history in the alt-rock and pop-punk scenes, you might remember Howard from the band Bottom Line and later on with Pluto Revolts. After fighting typical major label nonsense of the industry, Howard is forging a strong path forward with his solo material that you’ll be swooning over in no time!
Following the release of his 2021 debut single, “Heavy,” the singer has recently unleashed single number two, “Locked,” and it’s not one to be missed!
“Locked” delves into reconciling with the past, fitting right in with the overall theme of this track being locked inside a vault of the singer’s unpursued work. Written 15 summers ago but ultimately left unfinished, Howard is now shedding some light on those once discarded ideas and breathing new life into them.
“‘Locked’ was born out of a period of summer solitude, when the mourning doves in the trees were the loudest sound in the neighborhood. To many, summer is synonymous with raucous activity, but for me, this song represents embracing moments of seclusion and finding contentment in life’s unanswered questions,” shared Howard.
The track’s accompanying video – which we are excited to premiere today – is a gloriously gloomy journey of self-discovery reminiscent of those late nineties/early aughts videos that we hold so dear today with a rather hopeful ending.
“It didn’t dawn on me until I saw the final edit of the video, that perhaps this character is finding the keys simply because he’s looking for them. It lends to the futility of the effort he’s making to gather these keys, considering how many he finds and how they seem to magically be everywhere he looks for them. Clearly, he will never find the correct one, so he would be better off leaving the search behind. It plays into the lyrics in the sense that he’s constantly revisiting this nagging mystery. I guess the moral of the story is ‘don’t be this guy.'”
Check out the premiere of “Locked” below:
